PermGen Elimination project is promoting

[Srinivas Ramakrishna]

Also I am assuming stuff like heap histograms will (continue to) produce
summary info on the metadata as well? Or perhaps not anymore?

-- ramki

On Wed, Sep 26, 2012 at 10:23 PM, Jon Masamitsu <jon.masamitsu at oracle.com>wrote:

> Kirk,
>
> There is some information labeled with "Metaspace" in the GC output
> that says how much memory is being used for class metadata.   It's
> not really GC info but can be affected by GC (i.e., class unloading
> during GC will reduce the used class metadata).  There are jstat
> counters that currently carry the same name as the old perm
> gen names.   Those names WILL change.  I'm checking on what
> else there will be.
>
> Jon
>
>
> On 9/26/2012 9:24 PM, Kirk Pepperdine wrote:
>
>> +1 on the summary comment.
>>
>> I've always wondered if the removal of perm gen was going to buy us (Java
>> community) anything. Now I see with the move of meta-data to C heap that
>> was it has bought us is the move of data from a space where we had tools to
>> analyze problems that cropped up to a space where we don't. So, my question
>> is; what facilities will be put into place that would allow us to view the
>> class meta-data in a production VM?
>>
>> Regards,
>> Kirk
>>
>> On 2012-09-27, at 5:06 AM, Srinivas Ramakrishna<ysr1729 at gmail.com>
>>  wrote:
>>
>>  Nice summary, thanks!
>>>
>>> ysr1729
>>>
>>> On Sep 26, 2012, at 13:31, Jon Masamitsu<jon.masamitsu@**oracle.com<jon.masamitsu at oracle.com>>
>>>  wrote:
>>>
>>>  We're expecting to promote hotspot with the perm gen elimination changes
>>>> into JDK8 this week.  The last webrev for initial integration into
>>>> hotspot
>>>> is at
>>>>
>>>> http://cr.openjdk.java.net/~**coleenp/metadata8/<http://cr.openjdk.java.net/%7Ecoleenp/metadata8/>
>>>>
>>>> Basically this is the removal of the permanent generation and the use
>>>> of native memory for hotspot's representation of class metadata.
>>>>
>>>> Generally speaking this change is invisible to the
>>>> Java application.  However, depending on the allocation
>>>> behavior, more Java heap may be used.  Also the
>>>> amount of native memory used for the class metadata may be
>>>> less than or more than the memory used previously by the
>>>> permanent generation.  Basically the message is that
>>>> you should not see any differences but then again you
>>>> may.
>>>>
>>>> This change is in hsx 25 b2 and is expected to promote
>>>> into jdk8 b58.
>>>>
>>>> These are some of the details.
>>>>
>>>>    - Most allocations for the class metadata previously
>>>> done out of the permanent generation are now allocated
>>>> out of native memory. Some miscellaneous  data has
>>>> been moved to the Java heap.
>>>>
>>>>    - The permanent generation has been removed. The
>>>> PermSize and  MaxPermSize are ignored and a warning is
>>>> issued if they are present on the command line.
>>>>
>>>>    - The klasses that were used to described class
>>>> metadata have been  removed (klassKlass and it's derivatives).
>>>>
>>>>    - By default class metadata allocation is only limited
>>>> by the  amount of available native memory. Use the new flag
>>>> MaxMetaspaceSize to limit the amount of  native memory used
>>>> for class metadata. It is analogous to MaxPermSize.
>>>>
>>>>    - In 64bit VM when compressed oops are used a special
>>>> fixed size  space is used for classes to set a compressed
>>>> class pointer in object's header. The size  of that
>>>> class's space is controlled by ClassMetaspaceSize flag
>>>> with default value 2Mbytes.
>>>>
>>>>    - A garbage collection may be induced to collect dead
>>>> classloaders  and classes. The first garbage collection
>>>> will be induced when the class metadata  usage reaches
>>>> MetaspaceSize (12Mbytes on the 32bit client VM and 16Mbytes
>>>> on the 32bit  server VM with larger sizes on the 64bit VM's).
>>>> Set MetaspaceSize to a higher value to delay the induced garbage
>>>> collections. After an induced garbage collection the
>>>> class metadata usage needed to induce the next garbage
>>>> collection may be  increased.
>>>>
>>>>    - Whereas class metadata was previously garbage
>>>> collected as part of the permanent generation, without
>>>> the permanent generation the storage for class metadata
>>>> is explicitly managed. C-heap allocation is not used.
>>>>
>>>>    - jstat counter names for metadata allocations
>>>> have not been  updated. The old permanent generation names
>>>> are still used but will be updated in the  near future.
>>>>
>>>